Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an object information acquiring apparatus and a photoacoustic probe.
Description of the Related Art
As a method of specifically imaging vascularization caused by cancer, photoacoustic tomography (hereinafter, PAT) has been attracting attention. The PAT is a system of illuminating an object with illumination light (near-infrared rays), and receiving a photoacoustic wave generated from the inside of the object with an ultrasound probe to image.
FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a handheld photoacoustic apparatus described in “S. A. Ermilov et al., Development of laser optoacoustic and ultrasonic imaging system for breast cancer utilizing handheld array probes, Photons Plus Ultrasound: Imaging and Sensing 2009, Proc. of SPIE vol. 7177, 2009”. A photoacoustic probe 104 has a structure in which a receiver 106 for receiving a photoacoustic wave is sandwiched between illumination optical systems including emission ends 103b of a bundle fiber 103 to be fixed. Illumination light from a light source 101 enters the bundle fiber 103 from an incident end 103a to be applied to an object from the emission ends 103b. Then, the receiver 106 receives a photoacoustic wave generated from the object by a photoacoustic effect to convert the generated photoacoustic wave into an electric signal. A processor 107 of an ultrasound apparatus 109 amplifies or digitalizes the electric signal, or performs image reconstruction the electric signal, so that image information (IMG) is generated to be transmitted to a display apparatus 108. Consequently, a photoacoustic image that indicates characteristic information on the inside of the object is displayed.
Non Patent Literature 1: S. A. Ermilov et al., Development of laser optoacoustic and ultrasonic imaging system for breast cancer utilizing handheld array probes, Photons Plus Ultrasound: Imaging and Sensing 2009, Proc. of SPIE vol. 7177, 2009.